Sea of Clouds
by VeltPunch
Summary: Mimi is Jhoto's champion and poster girl, while Steven is the freelancer champion of Hoenn. Not only is the relationship separated by seas of clouds and water, but from the heart as well.


_What can I say (: I'm excited for Heart Gold and Soul Silver

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Lilycove's most precious gem was nestled into the long stretches of high rises around its coastal waters.

The Oceanus sat crowded by large gleaming buildings, its towering height dwarfing those around it. Somewhere below its penthouse suite, water crashed onto the craggy rocks below, ocean spray lifting into the air like a water sprite's dance, glittering one thousand shades in the rising sun.

Steven Stone clambered out of bed, careful not to step on his Armaldo curled on the foot of the bed.

He pulled the long glass panes, sliding them to step into the chilly morning Lilycove air.

Behind him, tucked under a mess of satin white sheets, bright blue eyes watched through dark brown fringes.

Steven lit the match and cupped it slowly, sheltering the small flicker of life in his hands from the torrent of winds that rose from the troubled sea below him. Just as the flame trickled onto the paper, browning and lit red with embers at the edges, it was ripped away from him.

By his side, a woman emerged from the bedroom behind him, giving him a glance before dropping the cigarette off thee balcony.

"Hey..." He struggled feebly. "That was my last one." He ends, hoping for some empathetic input on her part.

"And it'll continue to be the last one," She gives no such sympathy. "Until the day you die."

As she turned her head to the sea, he caught the tropical scent of her long, dark hair. Hey eyes, fixated on some part in the burning horizon, were bright and blue, as if someone had caught the sky and pulled it's colors into them. Before she could stop him, he wrapped his arms around her waist, and breathed in the scent of her neck. It never ceased to amaze him how she made the hotel's compliment soap smell so good.

He wished they could stand there, watching the sun like a bright orange peach rise between the waves—a benign presence behind her tousled sleep-edged hair, glowing gold at the edges—and not have to answer the question of Steven _or _Mimi_, _but Steven _and _Mimi.

"—leaving today," Her soft, lyrical voice was speaking, just high enough to be whisper soft over the wind. "And I was thinking..."

He looked up slowly. "Thinking," He echoed, edging her to finish her sentence.

"I hear Volkner is over conducting some spiel at the Battle Frontier." The word's 'battle frontier' made Steven cringe as they were near synonyms for the word 'Scott' which meant 'fans'.

He could easily imaging Volkner's 'spiel' being more like attracting chicks with his so called dreamy looks, tough-I-don't-give-a-shit-personality, and gym leader status.

"I'd want to say goodbye to him, y'know?" She sighed, looking heart brokenly saddened at a mere mention of her leaving. "Before I go back to Jhoto."

Jhoto...

Being born in a small nondescript town of Fallabor, which Mt. Chimney continuously spewed heaving flurries of not snow, but _ash_ on the valley's inhabitants, Steven had never had to travel very far to get to the Hoenn. In fact, he lived there. (if one called Fallabor Town much of anything) He could remember trudging through a barren wasteland of gray undertones, speckles floating miles and miles into the air, a permanent shadow cast into the sky, wading his way to school with an umbrella and a napkin against his mouth. His father, who practically lived on the other side of the mountain working in Rustboro, was a minuscule part of his life.

But Steven could be considered an open person compared to Mimi, who usually spoke of her past with an airy tone, dismissing his quarries with a distant reasoning.

He did know, however, that her father was the company of Silph Co. (how could he forget? The man practically breathed down his neck) Jhoto region to prevent further harm. Under the care of one of his associates, Professor Elm, Mimi became a Pokemon Trainer.

The rest—at this point Mimi usually brushes past most of her adventures in a very vague way—isn't too interesting, she was a brilliant Pokemon trainer, beat Jhoto's league, and apparently nothing else in her life was worth mentioning.

Sometimes, he wished he could get more out of her, but she was a very quiet person, and didn't like to speak much about herself.

Even his Skarmory, usually a squawking little bird, made no noise as it silently flew them to the battle frontier's looming flags in the distance.

"Quite a crowd." Mimi remarked, her feet dangling off the edge of Skarmory's metal wings, below her a mass of swarming bodies flocked the entrance to the battle frontier.

Steven nodded, brushing his silvery hair out of his face, steering Skarmory to land. "I'd rather not make a scene."

Mimi only smiled leaning her back against him. Steven never liked crowds very much.

As they landed behind Scott's ever present "party cottage" (Scott liked to call it his pad, but its furniture usually included eight packs, a stereo system that cost enough to buy Lavaridge town, conveniently placed beds, and one or two scantly clad girls) Mimi clasped her stomach while her feet touched the ground. Immediately, Steven placed a hand to steady her, worry in his gray eyes.

"What's wrong? Are you sick?"

Mimi looked around unsurely. "I think so... maybe I ate something."

"You want some water?" Daringly, Steven poked his head around the back of the cottage, the swarm of girls were, luckily, pestering Volkner and hadn't noticed the tell tale Skarmory perched on the roof. "I cant get you some—

"It's fine," She waved him off dismissively.

A long time ago, before a mocha haired beauty with the brightest blue eyes stumbled into Mossdeep, rain drenched and in desperate need of a place to stay, Steven would have loved the closed off personality. Too many girls dived to him with shallow thoughts and big dreams of dating a Pokemon trainer, most were too talkative and too loud. And Steven was quiet, easy going, and in no need for a loud trophy girlfriend.

But now, the only thing he wanted was for Mimi to tell him what was wrong. He'd trade anything for a moment in which Mimi would just speak to him about whatever was bothering her.

It was bad enough she was leaving tomorrow, back to Jhoto, for a non specified amount of time. Mimi hadn't even told him _what _exactly she was leaving for, only that it was imperative for her to leave as soon as possible. "Maybe a couple days." Mimi had shrugged noncommittally, when he had asked how long. He wanted—no, needed, it was no longer a matter of choice—her, and it made him into a romantic sap worse than Flannery, who, compared to someone like Candice, was a nightmare.

Speaking of Candice, Sinnoh's renowned ice gym leader, and also called the ice queen, was standing off to the side with a put off-ish look, smooth thin arms folded over her chest.

"Now, where do you want me to sign?" Volkner grinned, delighted when the girl pulled her shirt up.

"Enjoying yourself?"

Volkner brightened as Mimi walked over, smoothing down her sun dress before he pulled her up and twirled her around, laughing as she shrieked.

"Where have you been, squirt?" He ruffled her head. "You have any idea how _bored_ I am over at the Sunyshore Gym? I'm practically suicidal without you to entertain me!"

"I'm sorry." Eyes filled with mirth, she didn't sound it in the slightest. "I've been busy."

"Steven's the cause of this, no doubt." He walked over and patted the other man on the back, before fluffing his wind blown hair before a horde of girls swarmed the Hoenn champion.

"That doesn't make you jealous?" Candice stood to her left, hooded green eyes watching Volkner dance around the gaggle of girls, saying sauve but overly cliché things like, 'how are you, my fair lady?' and winking at any cute blonde with a decent bust.

Mimi, catching the other girl's glance, looked sideways with a smirk. "Does it make you?"

"Wha—" Her cheeks tinged pink, before she turned her head. "Of course not."

But Mimi said nothing to rebuke her extraordinarily obvious lie, instead inclining her head to watch Steven languidly dodge his way through the crowd, inching away from people with the air of a person who didn't enjoy large stretches of crowds like this.

_But he did it for me, _She mused, somewhat sadly._ He came because I asked him to._

Candice caught her eye. "You look sad." She remarked.

"Do I?" She blinked, brushing cloud soft hair out from her eyes.

"Yeah, but you got no reason to." She popped a lolly into her mouth, before sighing. "It annoys me. All Volkner does is get bored and do nothing. He's the strongest gym Leader in Sinnoh...but all he does is chase after girls and fix up junk!"

"Maybe that's what he likes to do." Mimi expressed, concentration somewhere else.

Candice snorted. "Yeah well, he needs his priorities straight then."

"He's young." She smiled, watching her blond best friend. "He's got a while to do that."

Candice closed her eyes, huffing. "You make yourself sound like an old lady with kids. All...I dunno. Old. And with kids."

Something brewed beneath the surface of Mimi's tender blue eyes, that Candice didn't notice.

"Why are you going to Jhoto, anyways?" The young school girl prodded. "It's so...far."

"Sinnoh's far." She retorted lamely.

"Far?" Candice rolled her eyes. "Its like, a day. I hear it takes a month to reach Kanto by a commercial flight, and then you have to take the Magnet Train over to Jhoto, right?"

"Something like that." Mimi answered distantly.

"That's terrible!" Candice frowned, brushing her dark hair out of her eyes. "What's Steven going to do? Doesn't he have to do that expedition for his dad? Near the underground caves behind Slateport. I hear they found something."

"They did." Mimi nodded. "He's not going with me."

Candice opened her mouth, before she closed it just as quickly. Obviously Mimi had something going on she wasn't about to share.

A burst of applauds came as the Battle Frontier brains entered the picture, and Steven was able to wedge his way through another clout of fans. He noted the distant worry that had been plaguing Mimi's comely features as of late, the creased worry in her perfect, sky blue eyes, the way her hands knotted together, clasped like a delicate pair of butterflies. She'd been so thin lately, maybe she wasn't eating right.

Steven put a hand around her, noting how small her waist was. "What's wrong, Mimi?"

"Nothing," She shook her head, eyes downcast and creating spiky shadows from her long lashes against her cheeks. "Just tired." Even to him, it sounded a bit false.

Nonetheless, he lead her to where Skarmory twittered about, being sure to make her comfortable before letting the bird unfurl into the stratosphere. She leaned onto him the whole time, a sense of tiredness in her lithe shoulders, hair billowing in the wind above the clouds. He desperately wanted to ask her what was wrong. What troubled her, why she kept her silence. Did she not trust him? Or, and he paled as he thought of it, did she not want him to know? But that lead to another set of questions entirely. Why didn't she want him to know? But he kept his silence, believing that she'd tell him when she was ready.

His small, modest house in Mossdeep certainly never looked so welcoming, even as the spike of sea air hit his nose.

His Beldum, tottering about the house and bumping into the many precious stones, tried to welcome him, but he quickly shushed it. Mimi stirred in his arms.

Steven, noting the assortment of rocks in his house, blushed in embarrassment. Mimi had yet to know the true extent of his nerd-ness, but come morning she'd find out.

Come morning, she'd be gone.


End file.
